Solar Eclipses

Solar eclipses don’t happen every day. They don’t even happen every year. In fact, from 1996 until 2012 there were no total, annular or partial eclipses visible from North America. But that has changed in the last few years.

Table of Contents

• Solar Eclipses
• Total Solar Eclipse 2017
• Types of Eclipses
• Other Eclipses
• So what’s the big deal?
• Devil’s Comet
• Rapture, Indiana
  • Totality as a Natal Chart
• Council of the Old Gods
  • UPDATE! NASA rockets, Ra and Apep
  • Solar Cycle
  • A 2012 Connection?
  • The Great Year in motion
• Meanwhile, at the LHC
• What does it all mean!?

Total Solar Eclipse 2024

If you have been anywhere around civilization in the last few months you have probably heard that there is a total solar eclipse in the near future. On April 8, 2024, parts of North America will gaze to the sky to see a total solar eclipse. The path of totality begins over Mexico, extends through Texas to the northeast, leaving the continent through Vermont, Maine and finally exit the North American viewing area over the Gulf of St Lawrence in Quebec.

Eclipses are cool and all, but what makes this eclipse noteworthy? For starters, it is not the first solar eclipse in recent years.

Total Solar Eclipse 2017

Prior to the world losing its collective mind with the COVID plandemic, there was another total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. This eclipse was entirely over the United States with the path of totality running from Oregon across southern Illinois and through South Carolina. The path of this eclipse crosses the path of the other eclipse in southern Illinois.

Types of Eclipses

NASA’s JPL tells us that there are three types of solar eclipses; partial, annular and total.

In addition to the two total eclipses in 2017 and 2024, there have been two annular eclipses as well. You can see from the picture above that an annular eclipse is a nearly total eclipse, but the sun is not completely eclipsed.

Two annular eclipses have occurred over the United States; one in October 2023 that spanned from Texas back to Oregon, and one on June 10, 2021 over parts of Canada.

Other Eclipses

In the interest of full disclosure, eclipses do happen regularly all around the world.

So what’s the big deal?

To this point we have discussed the eclipse from a purely modern, purely physical perspective. But since we are the Metaphysical Family, we looked at a few other things that would be happening in the sky that day.

Devil’s Comet

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, also known as “The Devil’s Comet” will be passing near Earth on the day of the eclipse. Astronomers tell us that there is nothing to worry about the ten mile wide ball of rock and ice because the comet will be no closer than 1.5 AU (the distance from the Earth to the Sun) as it passes us on April 24, about two weeks after the eclipse.

The comet orbits the Sun every 71.2 years. People familiar with the precession of The Great Year may find this number noteworthy.

Rapture, Indiana

People of the Christian faith sometimes refer to something called The Rapture. In short, those faithful to this tradition believe that “The Rapture” is part of the end of days and is the time when the faithful (living and dead) will be called to live with their god in the clouds. What does this have to do with the eclipse? Perhaps nothing, but there are Christians online who believe that this eclipse may be an event of Biblical proportions.

We recently learned of a town in Indiana named Rapture. As it happens, Rapture Indiana is the only place on planet Earth in 2024 with that name.

As it also happens, Rapture Indiana is also in the paths of both the 2017 total eclipse, and the 2024 total eclipse. Because of this, it seemed like a reasonable place to launch an investigation into the sky on the day of April 8, 2024 in Rapture, Indiana. Here is what we found.

Totality as a Natal Chart

For those who are not astrologers, watch the following video. We made this video using the wonderful (and free!) planetary software Stellarium available at https://stellarium.org.

Council of the Old Gods

In case you missed it, there will be a several planetary conjunctions during the period of the eclipse.

This is the sky at the moment of the eclipse as seen from Rapture, Indiana, according to Stellarium. Ladies and gentlemen; the Council of the Old Gods. All of the original seven wanderers of the old world will be above the horizon and in a nearly straight line on the ecliptic as the eclipse reaches totality.

That’s not the slightest bit ominous, except that …

Solar Cycle

Our Sun has periodic cycles. These cycles last about 11 years. Our Sun was in the low part of its solar cycle when the eclipse of 2017 moved across North America. For the Solar Eclipse 2024 our Sun will be in the peak of its solar cycle. This is why we have been hearing more and more reports of large M class flares, and even X class flares.

We know that solar flares can bring chaos to Earth’s more modern inventions, and experts have been working on EMP shielding with varying levels of success for as long as we have had electronics. That’s great and all, but I wonder if the people who build such things have a proper understanding of that massive source of energy hanging in our sky. Carrington Event, anyone?

The Carrington event happened during a mediocre, ho-hum solar cycle… It came out of nowhere, so we just don’t know when something like that is going to happen again.

Paul Kintner, Cornell University

A 2012 Connection?

A man named Graham Hancock has an interesting theory. An insufficient summary: Most people misunderstand why the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. It is not a reference to that specific year, but rather, that the end of the calendar marks the period of time in which our Earth will be in great danger – one arc minute of The Great Year – ~72 years. The calendar ends, so the theory goes, to mark a time in which the Earth will be passing through a place in The Great Year in which life on Earth could be greatly impacted, if not destroyed entirely.

They knew this because they had knowledge from long ago about a similar event. This knowledge came from a civilization lost to history, but retained through the Mayan people. This event happened between 11,000 and 12,000 before present. Hancock and others postulate that the event involved a comet or other impact event over North America which caused the ice cap to melt in a very short time. This rapid melting caused the worldwide flood described in the myths and legends of most every ancient culture.

For a brief introduction, watch the following video. For a more, read Mr. Hancock’s books, and his website.

The Great Year in motion

Going back to our Sun for a moment, Doctor Robert Schock, PhD (Yale) and Geologist at Boston University has a very interesting theory about what caused the end to the last ice age. He takes a slightly different view from Mr. Hancock, and instead postulates that the end of the last ice age was most likely caused by an extreme Solar eruption. Mr. Schock goes into detail in his book, Forgotten Civilization – New Discoveries on the Solar-Induced Dark Age

Meanwhile, at the LHC

(Click here to view the video)

What’s being done with the LHC is most unsettling to those with occult and/or alchemical training in the same way that the atomic bomb is unsettling. Both come from the same black magick. Myth tells us over and over again of man and his attempts to become too much like the Gods, reaching too far into heaven, and the often very severe punishment for the offense.

What does it all mean!?

So what does all this mean? The answer will depend on how you view this universe that we call home for this place in time.

Time is the water, Charlie. Life is just the bridge that it flows under.

Howard Bowditch

There are traditions from a time not long ago that state that the planets are not lifeless balls of rock and gas, as the experts with the telescopes inform us. Instead these traditions hold that these planets are something else.

In ancient Greece – a civilization we still admire today – the wanderers, as they were called, are either the literal bodies of gods they’re named after, or at least the expression of those personalities into our solar system. Other traditions hold that they are the physical representation of eternal forces, the names of which change as human language changes. And yes, there are even traditions in which our Sun is a portal to other dimensions, other solar systems, or both. The ancient Egyptians, for example, held that one possible afterlife for a pharoh was to become a new star, reigning over an entire solar system.

Gurdjeff’s “The Forth Way” as explained by P. D. Ospensky in “In Search of the Miraculous” holds an interesting cosmology. Another insufficient summary: There is a universal creating logos – the “word of god” that created our universe. Not the Pauline Christian notion of “logos” put forth by those who interpret the first chapter of the New Testament epistle of John in a certain way. Closer to the Hindu mantra “OM”. That top level logos divides into rays and solidifies into various sub-logi, manifesting in the physical world as stars like our Sun. This sub-logos has an intelligence as well as a feedback loop from planet Earth. If this is true, the Sun is alive, and sentient, though not in the same way that the average walking dead man is.

Whether Earth is a place where we incarnate to experience and learn, a prison where we incarnate to mine alien gold, or just a big ball of rocks spinning through the cosmos carrying the accidental results of the greatest genetic accident ever imagined, there is a long history on this planet. This history tells of angry gods who live in places in the sky. The gods occasionally come down from the sky to teach us lessons, and they are sometimes very harsh lessons. When things get completely out of hand, the gods unleash a cataclysm and kill most of the people on Earth.

Sam has been of the personal opinion that “the Sun is angry with us” for the last several years, and it has increased much more since 2021. Our Sun seems brighter than it did seven years ago, and hotter than it did seven years ago. Sam can not confirm this with personally collected data of temperatures or UV indexes, but only anecdotal evidence. We would be very interested in the results of any such tabulation from (uncorrected!) weather data.

Maybe nothing will happen. Maybe there is nothing more to see than balls of matter moving in the sky. Maybe the Solar Eclipse 2024 even will be a non-event. And maybe seven is just another number.

Sam remembers a time in 1990 when a seismologist, Iben Browning, predicted that the New Madrid Fault line in Missouri had a 50/50 chance of erupting in a massive earthquake. It did not, but people were sent into a panic over the news. While it didn’t happen, it’s worth noting what experts believe would happen, should such an earthquake occur.

This event will take place over the intersection of the last two total eclipses, near a place called Rapture, right next door to an active seismic zone that is long overdue for a major shake-up, in a country that seems bent on destroying the memory of the old gods and religion in general. If the old “myths” are true, the sky over North America on April 8, 2024 is a stage set for something spectacular, awesome, terrifying and possibly cataclysmic.

It might be a good time to get right with your personal God, just in case.

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The occult and secret societies are as old as human history. From the symbolism of ancient Egyptian temples down to the symbols on United States currency, occultism and secret societies have shaped every corner of our modern world.

There are many so-called secret societies operating in the Americas today. Secret is relative as these organizations are usually organized into legal corporations, and membership is generally open to all who apply. An incomplete list of famous “secret” organizations would include the Freemasons, The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Builders of the Adytum, the Ordo Templi Orientis, and certainly not least, the Rosicrucians.

You may have heard of Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis or AMORC. But did you know that there is another older, more mysterious order of Rosicrucianism in the united States?

Beverly Hall Corporation

Last year we became aware of a Rosicrucian organization in Pennsylvania that claims a history as old as the united States. Tucked away in the quiet little town of Quakertown, Pennsylvania sits the campus of the Beverly Hall Corporation. Beverly Hall Corporation is the legal organization for the affairs and various philanthropic efforts the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis and the Church of Illumination.

The Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis is a “secret” organization which has been operating in the United States since the time of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, both of which were members of the fraternity. You may notice a few more names from history on the large pyramid monument.

The campus is mostly open to visitors. Some buildings are not open to the public as they are private residences or office space. The open areas and memorial garden were open to the public when we visited in late summer, 2022.

The Church of Illumination

Also on the grounds is the Church of Illumination chapel.

We visited the Beverly Hall grounds on a Sunday so that we could attend their church service. We had viewed a couple of their online sermons to know what to expect. There were no hymns sung by the congregants, but it was an otherwise fairly standard church gathering. There was a sermon, prayers and a Rosicrucian version of the eucharist communion.

You can read more about the fundamental tenets of the Church of Illumination on their website. Topics include The Divine Law; The Soul’s Journey to Illumination; Jesus, the Christ; Gratitude; Healing and much more. Protestant Christians will find these topics addressed from a very different perspective than those more heavily influenced by Irenaeus of Lyon. Some might find it a refreshing change of pace.

Rosicrucianism in the united States

Beverly Hall consists of several other buildings on the campus. The Philosophical Publishing company is located on the grounds along with the Clymer Healing Center, a medical practice. The academy building houses the organization’s library. Two buildings devoted to housing provide accommodation for up to 28 people on pilgrimage to Beverly Hall.

The Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis offer spiritual training to those who seek it through their School of Soul Science and Æth Priesthood programs. These courses of training promise to help the aspirant reach their full potential as a completely realized human being. The training in these courses is the “secret” of this secret society; both courses are bound by strict oaths of secrecy. This secrecy includes whether or not a person is or is not a student.

Pay a visit to Beverly Hall for a glimpse of authentic Rosicrucianism in The United States. While you are there remember that people come to this place to study and reflect on the mysteries of life and the universe. Be quiet and courteous, and remain conscious of where you are.

Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis – https://soul.org/
Church of Illumination – https://churchofillumination.org/

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We left our stay at Forest Lake RV Campground refreshed and headed to our Harvest Host stay at Russian Chapel Hills Winery in Columbus, NC.

Harvest Host Parking

We always try to prepare for our trips during our T-24 by reviewing the GPS directions and viewing Google Maps to see what the approach is like. During this review we were able to determine the Harvest Host parking location was just south of the main driveway, however; we were not able to determine from the satellite images that you can not enter the Harvest Host parking location from the main drive due to tree growth.

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When we arrived we had mistakenly entered the main drive and had to back up into the road to get into the correct parking location. This was not a big deal, but it could have been better communicated on the Harvest Host page. Once in the correct parking location we choose a level spot which allowed us to also see the chapel on the hill.

After set-up we walked to the tasting room to sample the wines.

Tasting Room

As soon as we entered the tasting room we were welcomed and offered a seat by Andrey, our host, and the owner of Russian Hills Chapel Winery. The room was nicely decorated and had displays of wine and some local honey and beeswax products.

We sat at the bar where Andrey gave us pens and paper for our “Tasting Notes”. He then guided us through the wine tasting. Each wine we tried was very good, but a few really stood out to us as our favorites.

Wines

Whites

• Rose’
• Chardonnay 2015
• Sauvignon Blanc 2015
• Muscadine 2016

We were given four white wines and four red wines to try. While we are not huge fans of white wines we were happy to find that they were better than many other white wines we have had before. Our favorite white wine was the Muscadine. We had never heard of Muscadine wine before, but were told that they are made from a local North Carolina grape and had a very polarizing flavor. Indeed, it was a unique flavor, but we both thought that it was really delicious and brought a bottle home with us.

Reds

• Merlot 2015
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
• Mosaic 2016
• Kagor 2019

We thought that all of the red wines were very good. The Merlot was wonderful. It would pair with many different dishes and was noted by Andrey as his favorite. The Kagor was the last of the reds we tried, but was our favorite of them all. Andrey told us that it used to be used as a communion wine. We decided to grab a couple of bottles of the Kagor in addition to the Muscadine.

Chapel

After the tasting we brought the wines back to the rig, grabbed our dalmatian puppy Maya, and took a short walk out to the chapel. It was a beautiful evening stroll which we all greatly enjoyed.

Saint Anna Chapel has an interesting history. During the first year of ownership the winery had problems with the grapes and their wine also fermented. Under the guidance of Andrey they built Saint Anna Chapel in the middle of the vineyard and with much prayer they have seen growing success in the years since the chapel’s construction. The chapel is part of the eastern diocese of the Russian Church.

The chapel is a small wooden building filled with beautiful iconography and items of worship. There were incense and oils in the chapel including Blachernae Rose and tree resins which I believe included frankincense.

We added a prayer into the guest book and took a quiet moment before heading back to the rig for a peaceful night of rest.

The next morning Sam woke up early and took a quite walk out to the chapel to watch the sunrise. The mist on the fields made for a picturesque view of the chapel.

Be kind!

When we spoke with Andrey about this review of the location he said that he hoped it would be positive. When we asked why anyone would review his establishment negatively, Andrey intimated that the winery had received unsavory comments because of his Russian background, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Those who would review this beautiful winery based on the owner’s nation of origin, or because of a military conflict initiated by the leader of that nation are in desperate need of self reflection. How many naturally born Americans support the policies of our current or past Presidents? How much control does the average American have over the nation’s foreign policy?

I wonder how many of these internet trolls would make their mean-spirited comments to the man in person. Probably as many as those who have control over the actions of the person sitting in the White House!

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Recommended

We very much enjoyed out stay at Russian Chapel Hills Winery and would recommend it as a stop for any Harvest Host member. If you are not yet a Harvest Host member, but are interested in becoming one you can use our friend referral code to get 15% off of your membership. Click here for the discount!

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Shenandoah Crossing RV Resort

Upon arrival we were greeted at the guard house with our site information. We were directed to our site and told to set-up and get settled in then go to the lodge to finish checking-in. The property is beautifully landscaped and well maintained. The Elite sites all have concrete pads and had a table with chairs, fire ring, and outdoor grill. The Presidential sites come with all of the previously mentioned site amenities, but also included a fenced in spa; however, these sites are not made available to Coast to Coast members. The landscaping allowed for privacy between the sites and it appeared that management purposely left sites open between guest for additional privacy.

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The site wasn’t exactly level, but our auto-level was able to handle the slope with out difficulty. The kids really enjoyed the pad because it meant they could use their scooters on the site. We also had a grassy area which was nice, but it needed mowed. Overall we were very happy with the site and were able to get settled in quickly. We then made our way to the lodge to check-in for our stay.

The drive to the lodge brought us by the general store, stables, green house, playground and mini golf areas. We were very impressed with all of the amenities that this campground had to offer. Once in the lodge check-in went smoothly. We were given information and prices regarding the amenities and were then directed to another desk for our wrist bands.

At this next part of check-in we became aware that Shenandoah Crossing RV Resort is part of Bluegreen Vacations which is a timeshare company. The nice lady who was completing our check-in informed us that if we sat through the presentation we would receive a $100 gift card and a free stay or a $175 gift card with out the stay. We decided that we needed more time to talk about it and left for the evening.

Amenities

Shenandoah Crossing has many fantastic amenities. They have many pools, an arcade, fitness center, stables, mini golf, movie theater, and more. There were so many things to do that we were only able to choose a few of them in our brief stay.

The Stables

One of the first things you see upon entering the property are the stables. The red barns with white trim and wooden pasture fences with the many beautiful horses grazing peacefully set the scene of a dreamy equine getaway.

Both Hannah and I love horses and were excited to find that they offered trail rides for her age range. The prices for the trail rides were very reasonable and they have multiple types of rides to choose from. We selected the beginner 45 minute ride as this was Hannah’s first time riding solo. She was paired up on Buttercup, a cute little palomino mare, who took very good care of her on the trail. I was given Fetch to ride as he was good buddies with Buttercup and would allow me to keep close to Hannah during the ride. All of the horses were very well behaved as we took a leisurely ride through the property.

Horses turned out on pasture with the lodge behind.

Hannah on Buttercup and Brittany on Fetch on a trail ride

Fetch and the other trail horses in the front pen.

The General Store

Directly across from the stables is the general store. It is well appointed with food basics, snacks, and gift shop merchandise, but no RV supplies.

There is also a kitchen in the general store which provides food from breakfast to dinner. We were told that they have great thin crust pizza; however, orders must be placed 30 minutes before the kitchen closes and we found the store closed randomly during our stay so we were not able to try any.

Be prepared to pay the “resort tax” as the prices in the store are very high. You can save 10% by bringing in a bag of recycling or if you shop on your check-out date.

General Store

General Store

General Store Restaurant

General Store Pools and Splash Pad

Giant Board Games

In addition to the store there is also a pool and splash pad, giant chess/checkers, movie theater, and banquet hall all located in or around the same building.

The Lodge

Through the front doors of the lodge you are greeted by a reception desk where they have guests check-in. The decor shows some of the history of the area and there is a TV information board which cycles through the amenities that you can watch while you wait.

The upper floors are hotel style private rooms that can be rented, but the basement is full of fun activities for all guests to enjoy. There we found a fully stocked arcade with lots of great games. The fitness center in located in a separate room in the arcade. This is a great set-up for parents who would like to work out, but have the kids occupied close-by. Down the hall from the arcade is the natatorium (indoor pool) which was equipped with a pool and spa. Through the glass exterior doors of the natatorium was access to another large outdoor pool.

Laundry Facilities

While we do have our own washer/dryer in the fifth wheel we often utilize the campground laundry facilities to handle our larger loads such as towels and jeans. Each campground we have been to charges around $1.50-$2.00 per wash and another $1.50-$2.00 to dry.

When I went to the laundry room at Shenandoah Crossing I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were free to use and the laundry room was kept very clean. Additionally, they had one oversized washer and dryer which allowed me to wash all of our bedding and Ruggable, machine washable, rugs. I wish that more campgrounds would offer this amenity.

Walking Trails

Another great amenity at the park were the hiking trails. They were not listed on the park map, but I had fun wandering through the different trails while walking Maya, our dalmatian puppy. The trails were easy to navigate and beginner friendly so I could even bring the kids with for some fun exploration.

Blue Green Vacations- a timeshare company

We did not know that Shenandoah Crossing was part of a timeshare company when we booked the site. When we were checking in the lady at the desk invited us to the presentation and told us that we would receive a gift card and free stay in one of their two RV resorts. We decided to talk it over before making any commitments.

We discussed going to the presentation because as a full time RV’ing family we are always looking for memberships that provide great value to us. However; both of the RV resorts were located in Virginia and as we are leaving the area a free stay would not be beneficial for us, but the $175 gift card would have covered the cost of our stay.

We were seriously considering going to the 2 hour presentation, but during our research of Shenandoah Crossing and Bluegreen Vacations we saw that there are a lot of complaints regarding the company and it was common that the incentives were never received. With all of this information we decided not to attend the presentation.

The sales team came by our site on Saturday, but we were gone for the day and only received the note when we returned. I spoke with the sales team on Sunday before we had decided not to go to the presentation and I told them I would reach back out if we wanted to schedule a time to go to the presentation. After that conversation we were not contacted further.

Shenandoah National Park

The weather was forecasted to be mostly cloudy and rainy for the duration of our stay so we chose the best day out of the forecast and headed to Shenandoah National Park. The park was a 45 minute drive from Shenandoah Crossing. Once entering the park we drove the famous Skyline Drive, stopped at many of the beautiful scenic overlooks, visited one of the parks visitor centers, and drove through a really neat tunnel.

You will be able to read more about our trip to Shenandoah National Park in an upcoming post.

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Humankind has had a fascination with geometry, astronomy and geomancy since before recorded history. The pyramids at Giza are aligned to the cardinal directions and the Great Sphinx watches in perfect alignment as the Sun rise over the Nile on the equinoxes. Stonehenge has numerous alignments, both celestial and terrestrial. From Machu Picchu to Gobekli Tepe, ancient architects and builders purposely aligned their structures in a very precise way. We do not know how the ancients came to this knowledge or ability, but it is unarguably clear that they had both.

Does the Earth contain a natural energy matrix? Are there naturally occurring geographical markers which point out this matrix? Does Earth have a chakra system? Is the Crown chakra of North America located in Vermont?

Lake Willoughby – Westover Vermont

Most people are completely unaware that the Earth is coursing with energy currents. Modern science calls these energy currents telluric currents, and they are present to some extent all over the Earth’s surface. The United States Geologic Survey (USGS) maintains a map of these currents in their magnetic anomaly map, available online at https://mrdata.usgs.gov/magnetic/map-us.html

Lake Willoughby is an absolutely beautiful place. People say that it resembles a Norwegian Fjord. I have never been to Norway, but if it looks like Willoughby, it must be beautiful.

We only intended to visit Lake Willoughby once while we were in Vermont. It made such an impression that we went back to spend a second day on the southern beach there. Both trips touched us in ways that are difficult to express in words. If you are ever in the area, make the time to visit this amazing place. Take off your shoes, put your feet into the crystal clear waters and just feel. Stay as long as you can. You will be glad you did.

Be aware that there is a “clothing optional” beach on the south shore of the lake. It is not visible from the boat launch, but is not far west of the south beach parking area.

Sentinel Rock – Westmore Vermont

We stumbled upon Sentinel Rock while researching Lake Willoughby. Sentinel Rock is a large glacial boulder nearby to Lake Willoughby. Like Lake Willoughby, Sentinel Rock is a mysterious place to many. It is not difficult to understand why. The giant boulder looks completely out of place on an otherwise open hillside.

Sentinel Rock Information Board

Sentinel Rock, Westmore Vermont

It was while researching Sentinel Rock I found an article on vermonster.com which mentioned the work of someone named Dr. R.M. de Jonge:

SENTINEL ROCK, VERMONT
(Discovery of America and Biblical Flood, c.1900 BC)
Dr. R.M. de Jonge , drsrmdejonge@yahoo.com

Summary

Sentinel Rock is located in Westmore, northern Vermont. It is a big glacial boulder, which turns out to be a monument of the Megalithic Culture of New England. It tells the well-kown story of the discovery of America in the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties of Egypt (c.2500 BC). It bears a large petroglyph of a Comet, and it turns out to be situated close to an ancient crater having a diameter of 17 km. So, it also tells the story of the Biblical Flood, which occurred at the start of the Sixth Dynasty (c.2344 BC). It was caused by a Comet Catastrophe, at which more than half of the world population perished (2.6 mil-lion men). Nearby Lake Willoughby symbolizes this Comet. The monument dates from the Twelfth Dynasty (Middle Kingdom), c.1900 BC.

https://www.slideshare.net/rmdejonge/sentinel-rock-vermont-10042235

We looked for the petroglyph of a comet. We did see a large marking on the rock, but it did not immediately resemble a comet to us.

Dr. R. M. de Jonge is the head of the Institute for Megalithic Research, which is (or was) based in the Netherlands. They have a website at https://megalithicresearch.blogspot.com/ but it has not been updated in a long time. We did discover that Dr. de Jonge has much of his research available online at slideshare. Anyone interested “alternate” history will find much interesting material for thought at https://www.slideshare.net/rmdejonge/documents

Further Reading

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When we first arrived at Horseshoe Lakes RV Campground we checked-in at the guard house where we were given instructions on how to get to our assigned 50amp site. The drive to site 9 was fairly mild and the back-in spot was easily handled. We unhooked the truck and began our first full hook-up set-up. I auto-leveled the RV while Sam hooked up the water and electric. Shortly after we began we discover that the power wasn’t working at the pedestal. We were alerted by our Power Watchdog when it reported a voltage error. Sam retrieved the multi-meter and discovered that one of the voltage lines in the 50amp plug was not supplying any voltage.

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• Lake Willoughby – Westover Vermont

I called the office and the line went straight to voicemail so I headed off to the guard house. The office was also closed, but there was an after hours number provided. We were able to get a hold of a ranger who told us that he would come take a look at the issue. A few minutes later a couple of rangers arrived and determined that they would not be able to fix this issue today and that they would to move us to another site.

We had learned our first major lesson on the road: ALWAYS check the power first. We packed up everything we had set-up, hooked the truck back up, and followed the rangers us to the new site. It was a long drive with many hills and tight turns. A few places on either side of the road dropped into deep ravines or into, one of the many, lakes and ponds which were right next to the road. After a long drive through the campground we arrived at site 18. The site was a pull through, but had many large trees and one of those previously mentioned ravines to navigate around. e checked the power and were happy to find that it was good and provided 50amp service as expected.

Conclusion

We did not get to spend any time enjoying the amenities or local attractions as this was just a one night stop, but It was a nice quite night and the campground was beautiful in the morning light. Based on our limited experience we would stay at Horseshoe Lakes Campground again.

Products in this post

	Power Watchdog PWD50EPO, Bluetooth Surge Protector with Auto Shutoff, 50 Amp, Portable
	Hughes Autoformers PWD50-EPO-H, 50 Amp Spike Power Watchdog with Shut Off, Hardwired
	Hughes Autoformers PWD30-EPO, 30 Amp Spike Power Watchdog, Shut Off
	HUGHES AUTO Autoformers PWD30-EPO-H Power Watchdog Smart Bluetooth Surge Protector Plus EPO with Auto Shutoff – 30 Amp Hardwire Version

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We were running late and had called our hosts at Legendary Mustang Sanctuary to inform them that we would arrive later than expected, but Kathy told us that it would not be an issue.

We were the last of the Harvest Host guests to arrive and pulled into our spot for the night. We were all exhausted and ready for a quick dinner and bedtime, but as we attempted to extend our slides we noticed that we had a problem. There was no response from One Control.

Sam began to troubleshoot the issue and found that there was a problem with our newly installed lithium batteries. Thankfully he was able to do his magic and had up back up and running in about 20 minutes. We began to extend our slides to set-up for the night and as the kitchen slide was half way out we heard a crunch and the slide stopped. We pulled it back in to find that one of our hanging pictures had fallen on top of the slide and become stuck in the seal. Once we removed the picture we were able to finish setting up and we were able to get the family fed, ready for bed, and we all settled down for a restful evening.

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Even though we had been living in the fifth wheel for 7 months already it had been stationary living which was much different than the experience we were now having. We had read about how things would move and shift around on move day, but I hadn’t expected how much so. We had to pick-up most of our books in the bookshelf, many items in the pantry, clothes in the closet, and more. So we added things to our move day check lists to avoid these potential issues for our following move days.

The next morning we woke up excited about exploring the Legendary Mustang Sanctuary. After getting ready for the day we ventured out to meet up with Kathy once again. She gave us a tour of all of the different mustangs and burros that they currently had and a little back story on each one. Hannah and I really enjoyed all of the animals, but Adam was most excited about all of the big machinery that they had. Next Kathy introduced us to their farm dogs and cats which the kids really liked petting. Then Kathy gathered a bucket of carrots and led us out the the paddocks so that we could feed the horses and burros.

They had two burros there, Wilma and Pebbles, who were very friendly and insisted on getting carrots and scratches from Hannah. She of course loved spending time with them, but she really wanted to feed some of the mustangs. First we went to the paddock that had the more gentled mustangs who had been there for awhile. They were very friendly and would come right up to the gate. It is no wonder that most of them had already been adopted and were just waiting to be picked up or moved to their new homes. Next we went to visit one of the newer pens which housed two lovely mares one of which was very pregnant and was expected to foal in the next few weeks.

After the tour Hannah helped Kathy with some small farm chores in the barn and spent some time with a couple of barn cats up on the hay stack. Before we left Kathy printed off a few coloring pages for each child and wished us safe travels on our journey.

This was a dream location for both Hannah and I because of our love of animals, and horses specifically. I hope that one day we find ourselves in a position where we can rescue a couple of these wild mustangs ourselves, but in the meantime we can share our love for these fantastic beasts through the program they have at Legendary Mustang Sanctuary.

The Legendary Mustang Sanctuary was a great first stop which we would highly recommend to any Harvest Host member. If you are not yet a Harvest Host member, but are interested in becoming one you can use our friend referral code to get 15% off of your membership. Click here for the discount!

If you are interested in more information about the Legendary Mustang Sanctuary you can check out their website and Facebook page linked below.

https://www.legendarymustangsanctuary.org/

https://www.facebook.com/legendarymustangsanctuary

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Day One – October 25:

This is the story of our week long visit to the Lost Valley Lake Resort and RV park during the week of October 25, 2021. We have not been compensated by Lost Valley Lake in any way for this review.

Our trip was planned to begin just after lunch on Monday, October 25th. As will sometimes happen, plans changed before they even began.

Like most people who live in an RV full time, we have move day checklists. There are three stages to this checklist – T24, T12 and T0. The lists are to be checked and checked-off at the number of hours in the title; T24 is 24 hours before travel, T12 is 12 hours before travel, etc.

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We had planned to be on the road after a morning appointment on Monday. We expected to be on the road right after lunch, but got a late start and had to do almost all of T24, T12 and T0 _at_ T0. The National Weather Service was expecting a severe storm carrying tornadoes and large hail.

Since we still have our sticks and bricks, we closed the slides on the RV, went inside, and down to the basement to ride out the storm. The sky was dark by the time the weather threat had passed. As is often the case with severe weather, the system passed us without tornadoes, without hail and even without rain. Fortunately, this meant no property damage. Unfortunately, it also meant pushing T24 out to the following morning, which was already taken.

Day One – October 25

Once once on the road our first stop was to the CAT scales at Love’s Truck Stop in Strafford, Missouri. It was important to weigh our combined rig to make sure that we weren’t too heavy. We had been living in the RV for about a month at this point, and had everything that we thought we would need to carry. There are also some things that we will learn we don’t need to carry.

Our truck, which we lovingly refer to as “The Dreadnought”, weighs 9,220 pounds with the family on board and an (almost) full tank of fuel. Our combined weight with the RV on back is 22,900 pounds. With only 10,500 on the trailer axles we can add nearly another 2000 pounds of cargo to the RV before we have to upgrade the tires.

The 2022 Sabre 36BHQ comes equipped with 7000 pound axles, but only E rated tires. Upgrading to F rated tires matched to the 7000 pound axles results in a 36BHQ with c CCCW of 4150 pounds.

After a quick stop in Uranus Missouri, we headed to Lost Valley Lake.

It was another three hours to Lost Valley Lake using directions provided by RV Trip Wizard. RV Trip Wizard lets you plan your trips on a computer, and then download the trip directions to your mobile device for use in the RV. The software allows an RV owner to enter their vehicle information — length, height, etc. The software supposedly uses this information to plan routes that will accommodate that vehicle.Sometimes though, the software will route all 60+ feet of truck and fifth wheel down a dirt road barely large enough for the truck alone. We would share dash cam footage of this with you, but this footage was accidentally destroyed.

When we finally arrived at the campground it was nearly dark. By the time we got checked in and to our campsite, it was completely dark.

Parking a 42 foot trailer that is also your house can be a stressful experience. Parking a 42 foot trailer between rows of trees, and in the dark, can be downright nerve racking.

After watching me struggle with it for a few moments my new neighbor across the road came out to ask me if I would like him to move his truck. I admitted that it would make my task much easier if he happened to have his keys handy. We were nearly there with his truck in place. With it moved we were parked in very short order.

Our new neighbor introduced himself and his companion as “Chuck and Dee” before adding “Well, Charles and Dianna, but we’re not formal.” We thanked him very much for his help getting backed in and situated.

Tired from the day, we put the landing gear down, slides out, hooked up power and water, and went inside for the night.

Day Two – October 26:

After breakfast we decided to go fill the truck with fuel. We planned to do some exploring both in and out of the resort, and we had expended most of our fuel getting to the campground the night before.

The lowest price for diesel fuel was in the nearby town of Rosebud, Missouri. The Rosebud General Store is a pretty typical fuel station and convenience store, and met our needs perfectly. Unfortunately we did not have time to try Ruthie’s Family Restaurant on this trip, but we did hear that it is a good place to eat.

On returning to the campground we went to Lost Valley Lake Resort reservations office to meet the staff there. The staff was all very friendly. We had already decided to extend our stay rather than travel on Halloween. Reservations was able to extend our trip, and without changing spots. In hindsight, we got pretty lucky. More on this later.

While in the reservations office we spotted this old fashioned cigarette vending machine. These things were nearly everywhere in the long long time ago when smoking was fashionable, and less expensive.

Near the reservations office outside we found this slightly out of place piece of art.

There was no marker to identify what the statue is intended to symbolize. The piece consists of three cubes sitting on a large rock. The cubes feature wheels with eight spokes and leafy scroll work. On top of the cubes is a globe representing the Earth. On top of that is an eagle with it’s wings outstretched. Can you guess what it means?

Perhaps the Eagle is looking at the bounce pillow.

Most people are familiar with a “bounce house”. They are giant inflatable “houses” that allow people – usually children – to get inside and bounce around. Lost Valley Lake does not have a bounce house, but they do have a bounce cushion the size of a tennis court.

It’s fun for adults, too.

The bounce cushion directly next to the natatorium. We had intended to take advantage of this amenity, but didn’t find the time before the week was out. The facility looked very nice.

Adjacent to the indoor pool is a large parking lot. There is an on-site restaurant on one edge of this parking lot. Note that the restaurant is is only open on Fridays and Saturdays. Plan accordingly.

Further past the restaurant is a playground with platforms, slides and a “monkey bars”. We visited the playground briefly for some “whee” on the slides.

After “whee” on the playground we went to explore the Lake Center Expo located across the street from the playground. This is a large building which houses a movie theater that can be reserved for screenings.

The building also houses a basketball court, adjacent volleyball court, mini-golf, arcade, pool (billiards) and shuffleboard room, day spa and more.

We returned to the RV for lunch and were reviewing the details of big sister’s horseback riding lesson planned for the next day. It had not been previously mentioned that she would need lace-up shoes for the riding lesson. We decided to leave the campground again to go to Walmart as we had not packed appropriate shoes.

Before we made it to Walmart we had a detour at Hidden Oaks Pond to re-flash the truck from its previous “tow” tune. We took the short hike to the pond while waiting.

After the detour it was off to Owensville to Walmart.

We were pleasantly surprised to see t-shirts featuring messages of hope and faith available for purchase at the Owensville Walmart.

Lace-up shoes secured, we headed back to the resort.

And back to our camp site for our first campfire of the trip.

The fun would be cut short by a cranky toddler. S’mores were delayed for some of the family.

Day Three – October 27:

We took a short walk to Racoon Hideout Pond this morning. The pond is within walking distance of our camping spot. The pond is clearly marked on the resort map, along with a trail leading to the pond.

We were unable to find the trail, but did make our way down to the pond.

This pond is located in a small valley between two sections of RV parking spots, but we could not see the RVs with the leaves on the trees. It is worth the walk downhill to see the pond.

Do be careful on the path beside this pond!

While there are trash receptacles around the pond indicating that people are expected to be there, the path is quite narrow in places. No one in our party got wet, but there was a close call. Suffice to say that the path is narrow enough that a person could fall into the pond quite easily in places where the bottom is not visible.

The kids had expressed interest in returning to the bounce cushion at breakfast. We decided to do that after making it back from Racoon Hideout Pond still dry. Unfortunately, big sister fell on her arm, temporarily removing the fun from the experience.

Meanwhile, little brother saw the playground and remembered the “whee” slides from the previous day. Undeterred by the long walk, he set out across the vast parking lot desert to reach his prize.

After some fun on the playground we decided that it was time to visit one of the swim beaches located around Lost Valley Lake. We didn’t want to do any lake swimming in late October, but there was interest in beach sand.

The swim beach was what you would expect, plus goose poop. There are lots of geese at the Lost Valley Lake. Consequently, there is also lots of goose poop.

Lost Valley Lake has two large lakes on the property. This lake with the swim beaches, boat house, and all the human amenities close by, and another lake on the other side of the resort.

The other lake is definitely “off the beaten path”. We made it down the washed out gravel “road” and back again without any problems, but it might be a challenge for those who do not have off-road driving experience.

The view was worth the drive.

It was so quiet there that a person could forget there were other people anywhere nearby. The only sound was the wind through the trees.

Day Four – October 28:some

It’s raining and cold today. Luckily, Lost Valley Lake Resort has a lot of indoor activities to enjoy. Off to the Lake Center Expo!

The kids wanted to try the arcade at the Lake Center Expo. The arcade has a pinball machine, air hockey and a couple of video games. There is also a “claw” machine and a “test the strength of your punch” type game.

After a few rounds of air hockey we went to try out the mini-golf course. We played through most of the course and found the holes to be fun and challenging. Unfortunately putt-putt had to be cut short due to some bad sportsmanship from the younger players.

We perused the movies available to be viewed in the movie theater. While there were some movies suitable for children, we did not find anything that we liked enough to reserve the theater.

We returned to the RV so that little brother could nap.

Big sister and Dad made a “lava lamp” from a Tinker Crate.

Day Five – October 29:

Today is another cold and rainy day.

We took the opportunity provided by this rainy day to investigate the laundry facilities at Lost Valley Lake’s “Fort Wilderness”.

Note: Fort Wilderness is the only building on the resort which has both laundry facilities and Internet access available. Lost Valley Lake Resort definitely lives up to its name when it comes to cellular reception. Both T-Mobile and Straight Talk struggled to maintain signal at our site.

We did not have a lot of laundry, but It took much longer than we expected. The facility only had two washers and dryers, and only one dryer was working. The dryer that was working was not terribly efficient. We had to run both loads for one and a half cycles to get them dry.

The resort wifi was very good at Fort Wilderness which allowed the adults passed the time on laptops, catching up on online business and sister to get caught up on some online school work.

Big sister tried to introduce herself to some other kids who had arrived after we did. The whole exchange was terribly awkward. Kids in our Brave New World do not know how to be kids because their parents, teachers and community leaders have been teaching them to be scared of one another for more than a year. Thank you, leaders of the world for mind screwing everyone, and messing up an entire generation of kids.

Finding this in the Fort Wilderness library restored some hope for the future:

Laundry chores completed, we returned to the rig to put the now clean clothes away.

Lost Valley Lake Resort scheduled the Halloween celebration for Saturday, October 30. The time to carve pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns and decorate for Halloween is now.

Day Six – October 30:

Today is the day of many Halloween activities. There is a costume contest for the kids at noon, and trick-or-treating this afternoon at three.

The costume contest was fun for kids and adults. There were several contest categories including “best home-made costume”, “creepiest costume”, and more. The categories were split into groups by age of participants.

One adult dressed in an inflatable suit fashioned to look like the 45th President of the United States fondling a woman – a classy choice for a family event. This individual did not win a prize.

Creepiest costume went to a man dressed as a creepy clown holding a smaller creepy clown. The smaller creepy clown was a puppet controlled by the larger creepy clown. We would include a picture or video here, but it was too creepy.

Both Hannah and Adam entered the costume contest. Neither won, but both clearly enjoyed being on stage.

Back at the campsite we meet our new camping neighbors.

Husband and wife Tom and Lynn were in the spot next to ours. Their daughter Laura and her husband Scott were in the site on the other side of Tom and Lynn.

Lynn shared that their family has been coming to LVL for many years, and that Halloween is one of the bigger weeks at the park. By the end of the day, we understood what they meant.

Lost Valley Lake Resort closes the roads between sites 49-209 for trick-or-treat foot traffic. The campers in the closed off sites had gone all out with the decorating of the sites and the candy was abundant. The roadways were full of ghosts, princesses, zombies, dinosaurs, witches and more.

The children had a lot of fun and their bags quickly filled with treats.

Once we returned to our site we enjoyed our second campfire of the trip thanks to a stack of dry firewood from our very generous neighbors. Tom brought more firewood than they would use and insisted that we take some.

It was far better firewood than what we found scrounging in the woods.

Day Seven – October 21 – Halloween in Hermann!

Today is actually Halloween, but most of the campers, or at least the people occupying them, left today. It’s Sunday, so most of them are headed back to their work-a-day lives tomorrow.

Sister was supposed to have a horseback ride on Wednesday, but it was raining and cold that day. We rescheduled the lesson for today, but with multiple days of rain, the stable staff was only doing pony rides on a lead rope.

She did not seem terribly bothered by the change in plans

After the horseback ride we went to the town of Hermann, Missouri.

Hermann is a charming little town of 2500 people. Hermann appears to be supported by tourism. There are lots of little German themed Mom and Pop shops and many antique stores to patronize.

We found a neat toy shop called Blondie’s Dolls Toy Shop.

Inside Blondie’s we met Janet Melzer, one of the owners of Blondie’s. Janet explained to us that all of the toys in the store were made in Germany.

The store offered toys from Playmobile, Kaithe Kruse, Ravensburg Puzzels, Haba Games, and more. With quite a few of the play sets set up for interaction it was an immersive and fun shopping experience. Blondie’s also has an online store.

Big Sister worked on what she called a hotel/resort while we were there.

One thing we that didn’t count on was the lack of vegetarian options for lunch in Hermann.

We had planned to eat at The Tin Mill restaurant based on an online menu that we had found. On arriving at The Tin Mill we learned that the menu that had led us here was out of date. While they did offer a vegetarian bratwurst, it would have been difficult to get the kids interested in that particular offering.

Brittany called and spoke to another restaurant over the phone who said they were “pretty sure we could support a vegetarian”.

They were not.

Fernway had a black bean burger and salads. The entrees were largely flesh food.

Frustrated and hungry, we decided to cut our losses on finding a vegetarian meal in Hermann. Instead we went back to the RV for a late lunch and move day preparation.

Day Eight – November 1:

It’s move day!

It’s back to the Springfield area today after a short three hours of driving.

We do not make any stops, except at a rest area just east of Marshfield, MO.

We have an easy afternoon, and play the new Cloaked Cats game that we purchased at Blondie’s after dinner.

Our trip to Lost Valley Lake was a very good trip. We had good experiences, met great people and had a ton of fun.

With lots of amenities, great staff and great campers, Lost Valley Lake is a fantastic place. We will definitely visit again!

_{We would have liked to include aerial footage of the beautiful scenery, but were informed by resort staff that they have a strict policy prohibiting drone flight. This is unfortunate for everyone, including LVL. The fall colors in the trees would have for positively breathtaking footage.}

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The Metaphysical Family recently visited Uranus, Missouri. Yes, you read that correctly — Uranus, Missouri.

Despite having had the opportunity in the past, we had never stopped at this highway attraction. We stopped during an outing to Lost Valley Lake Resort to learn what all the fuss is about.

The first tip we can offer to anyone considering visiting with an RV is this — the RV parking is NOT at the main parking lot. Continue past the buildings to the parking lot for tractor-trailers and RVs. This parking lot is south-west of the main attraction, and does not appear on Google maps at the time of this writing.

There are lots of things to see and do in Uranus after you have parked your vehicle. We happened to be there as Uranus was celebrating the opening of “Putt Pirates” mini-golf, which invites visitors to “sink your balls into our putt holes”.

Inside the general store one finds all kinds of souvenirs and gifts. There are t-shirts, bumper stickers and Uranus brand moonshine. And then there is the famous Uranus fudge. If you purchase fudge you can honestly say that you have had your fudge packed in Uranus.

Uranus Missouri is a tourist attraction. They have a theme, which should be obvious if you have read this far.

The fudge _is_ quite good.

The post Packing Fudge in Uranus, Missouri appeared first on Metaphysical Family.

Today is the first day of our trip to pick up our new RV!

Our trip begins at our home in southwest Missouri, and ends at Pete’s RV in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Today was a short travel day as we did not get on the road until early evening local time. We decided to make it a short day, only planning to drive for ~2.5 hours.

As we do not yet have our RV we are in hotels for the drive up to Indiana.

The first leg of our journey ended in St. Clair, Missouri at a hotel then called Budget Lodging, now known as Pinemark Inn. This hotel got mixed reviews on some of the more popular travel dot-com’s, but we took a chance anyway. We were glad that we did.

Pinemark Inn in St. Clair, Missouri is quite nice. The room rates are affordable and at the time of this post they offer a free hot breakfast.

The hotel building itself is the older “motel” style setup. The doors into the individual rooms empty out into the parking lot rather than into a hallway inside the building. This was actually beneficial to us as we have three suitcases full of RV gear that we don’t want to leave in the bed of the truck. The door into the room from the parking lot was really handy in this situation.

Don’t let the motel exterior fool you. Inside the building everything has been updated.

Our room featured a very comfortable king bed (with clean sheets), microwave and mini-fridge. The bathroom in our room was positively huge for a hotel room. The bathroom did include a jacuzzi style bath tub, but we did not try it out. The room was bright, clean and featured attractive vinyl plank flooring throughout.

The free breakfast is better than the typical hotel fare, and even includes real scrambled eggs instead of the usual (and gross) powdered eggs often served at hotel breakfasts. They also had the best coffee of the trip!

Finally, this little sign was hanging in the bathroom of our room.

The sign reads:

To Our Guests

In ancient times there was a prayer for “The Stranger Within Our Gates”

Because the hotel is a human institution to serve people, and not solely a money making organization, we hope that God will grant you peace and rest while you are under our roof.

May this room and hotel be your “second” home. May those you love be near you in thoughts and dreams. Even though we may not get to know you, we hope that you will be comfortable and happy as if you were in your own home.

May the business that brought you our way prosper. May every call you make and every message you receive add joy. When you leave, may your journey be safe.

We are all travelers. From “birth till death” we travel between the eternities. May these days be pleasant for you, profitable for society, helpful for those you meet, and a joy for those you know and love.

What a nice little statement. They’re not wrong. Hotels provide a really important function in our society.

There is a story in a rather famous book. The story tells of a man who lived in a terribly wicked city. There were gangs of people in this city who, on learning of visitors to their city, would seek out the visitors and assault them sexually. This was so commonplace that the residents of the city would sometimes hide visitors from the gangs of rapists.

As the story goes, this man who lived in the terrible city had the opportunity to provide shelter and safe haven to some travelers who were passing through the city. The man did this at great risk to himself and his family, and it appeared that the danger might consume them all.

In the end, the travelers were angels sent by God.

We are not angels in the same way as the angels in the story, but we are all children of the same Creator. Hospitality has been in short supply in our Brave New pandemic world. It was really nice to run into so much of it here.

If you’re in the area and need a place to rest your head, you could do a lot worse than https://www.budgetlodging.com.

Day Two

This is our longest travel day in our trip, with the day ending in Kanakee, IL.

Along the way we found a rest area.

This rest area even had a playground area complete with one of the old fashioned metal slides that we were sure had outlawed by the good intentions of the helicopter parents of the world.

After more driving we arrived for an early check-in at the Hilton Gardens at Kanakee, IL.

At check-in we were given room 301. This room was not clean. It wasn’t horribly dirty either, but it was clear that housekeeping should have run the vacuum, but hadn’t. There were crumbs and dust bunnies randomly in the floor, and the sheets had a lot of stains.

After a quick trip to the front desk we were moved to room 400. This room was much cleaner than the first, so we settled in and decided to check out the on-site natatorium. This was a good time for the adults and kids alike until Dad got too much pool water up his nose to continue.

(Oh, the burning!!)

Dry again we decided to find dinner.

We asked the gentleman working the front desk where we should go to get Chicago style pizza. We’re not quite in Chicago in Kanakee, but we should be close enough to sample the flavor. We had already found the Chicago Dough pizza location in Bourbonnais, and our local guide at the hotel confirmed that was the place to go.

Bourbonnais, IL, at least the part we visited, is a college town. There was a large, multi-block party going on when we went to pick up our pizza.

There was a Mustang meet at Chicago Dough. We saw several GT’s, one Shelby GT500, and one that I hadn’t seen before, a Hertz GT.

Pizza secured, we returned to the hotel for the evening. There we enjoyed the delicious Chicago pan-style pizza, watched a little TV, and then went to sleep to prepare for the big day.

Tomorrow we go to finalize paperwork and take delivery on our new RV!

Day Three

Today it’s off to Pete’s RV in Schererville Indiana. After a quick breakfast at the hotel it’s only a short drive from Kanake Illinois.

We arrived at Pete’s a few minutes before our scheduled walk-through appointment. We waited in the customer waiting area where there was a TV, DVD player and DVD of “Monsters, Inc” that kept our children entertained.

After a short wait we were greeted by Robert Starks, the very nice man who would do our RV walk through.

The RV walk through is the time when a representative from the RV dealership will lead us – the new owners – through the features of our camper, basic operation of the systems, etc. Robert did a fantastic job with this. We had done a lot of research on our rig before hand, but there were still a couple of things that Robert pointed out that were new information for us.

Pro tip — record the walk through with your cell phone.

(Obviously, ask if the person minds you recording before doing so, and don’t post anyone to YouTube without their permission)

After the walkthrough we spent just a few short moments in the purchasing office with Beth Tomaszewski, Business Manager for Pete’s. Beth helped us get all of the papers signed and the purchase funded.

With that, we officially took delivery of our 2022 Sabre 36BHQ!

On visual inspection the unit appeared to be in good working order.

But as any (honest) person who has purchased an RV will tell you, an RV’s age is no indication of how many problems it has. Even brand new units often have an issue or two, or ten, that need to be fixed before taking possession of the unit. It was for this reason that we had arranged to “camp” on the dealership’s lot overnight.

Camping on the lot was suggested by some of our YouTube RV heroes, and it is great advice. We did not expect any major issues with the rig, but staying on the dealership’s lot overnight with water and power hookups will allow for testing the systems in the camper. This allows us to make sure there are no big leaks in the water system, and that all of the electrical appliances function as they should before we are hundreds of miles away.

After a quick trip to the area Walmart, we settled in for dinner and a more thorough inspection. Security at the dealership prevented us from being outside all night, but we were able to do a fairly complete exercise of the systems, as well as inspect the roof to make sure that there were no issues there.

Day Four

It’s getting exciting now!

After a very peaceful night of camping at Pete’s, it’s time to get on the road.

Let’s roll!

We begin by securing everything inside the rig that can move — TV, refrigerator doors, cabinets, room and closet doors, dining room chairs, etc.

Next we bring in the slides. Our Sabre has four slides in total; two opposing “super slides” in the main living room, one in the mid-bunk room and one in the master bedroom.

Now it’s time to hook up the truck.

A very kind gentleman from the repair shop helped us get hooked up. He showed us how to connect the fifth wheel hitch securely, including the break-away cable.

(The break-away cable is attached to the truck and trailer so that the trailer brakes will activate to stop the trailer in the unlikely event that the hitch should become detached. We have met RV owners who do not know the purpose of the break-away cable, and have never used it properly. YIKES!)

After the truck was securely under the RV, the service technician showed us how to raise the landing gear. Our rig is equipped with a four jack Lippert Ground Control 3.0 system, with auto-level. Raising the gear for travel consists of pushing the button marked “retract all”, and raising and pinning the drop legs.

We left from Pete’s RV to go to nearby large parking lots to allow for some practice drive time. After a few short moments of confidence building, it was time to hit the road to our Harvest Host in Effingham, Illinois.

But before we could get there, this happened.

The video below is taken from the dash cam installed on the F350 you see in the picture above.

We purchased the dash cam after a YouTube RVer we follow suggested that the video footage would be helpful in the event that someone decided to pull in front of their truck+RV and slam on the brakes, hoping to collect an insurance settlement.

We do not accuse the driver of the green pickup that pulled out in front of us of attempting to get hit for insurance reasons. We do accuse the driver of the green pickup that pulled out in front of us of being needlessly careless with their life, our lives, the lives of our two young children and every other driver around the situation.

Many of us engage in the very dangerous activity of driving a car without giving it much thought. Many of us have been doing it so long that we believe we can drive in our sleep, and many of us do just that all too often. People often get hurt as the result.

Driving an automobile on a road with other people is a incredibly dangerous proposition. Realize how many times you come within inches of certain death every time you pass a car on a two lane road. Realize that even with no one around, that your car can still malfunction in a catastrophic way that hurts you and others. Be cognizant of your vehicle, and those around you.

These are the reasons our family did not crash into the green truck. The Metaphysical Mommy saw the green truck moving even before Dad did. Her quick alert got Dad’s foot on the brakes a few absolutely critical seconds earlier.

Those seconds saved the day, and very possibly lives.

After shaking off the near-miss with a really bad day we continue south to our Harvest Host and set up camp for the night. We arrive later than we had hoped, but still have time to get the slides out and have dinner before generator turn-off time.

When quiet hours arrived we turned off the generator and settle in for some much needed rest. We would find it difficult to sleep due to several passing trains in the wee hours of the morning, but had an otherwise uneventful night.

(What is it about RVs and railroad tracks?)

Tomorrow is planned to be a long pull through Illinois to St. Louis, then southwest across Missouri, back to home base. The weather forecast is calling for rain on this part of the drive.

Day Five (The End)

After breakfast we head outside to visit our Harvest Host, the “My Garage Museum” in Effington, Illinois. The museum features Volkswagen cars, Corvettes and various memorabilia from the two brands. The museum is next door to Mid-America Motorworks which specializes in parts for Corvettes and air cooled Volkswagen automobiles.

Decorative Cows

Unfortunately, the rest of the day was not as pleasant as our visit to the museum.

Sam has been dealing with dental pain this entire trip. Today the pain became so severe that he was declared unable to drive. But we still need to get the rig back.

Having never driven a trailer before, Brittany was a little apprehensive about driving our brand new RV … through St. Louis … in the rain …

But that’s what she did.

Even though we missed an exit in the middle of St. Louis, and even though our truck’s transmission was misbehaving due to a bad tune, Brittany was still able to get our rig back to where it was going without major incident.

Sam was feeling better by the time we made it to our “sticks and bricks”. He backed the RV into the spot that we had prepared for it first try. Sam is modest about his ability to back a trailer, but he certainly makes it look easy.

All in all it was a good day, even if stressful.

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